The recent emphasis on finding alternative energy sources to fuel the energy needs of the United States and the world is leading to an accelerated search for new sources of fuel. Producing fuel from biomass is an important focus of many alternative energy strategies. Refined vegetable oils have been the typical starting materials for the production of biodiesel. Interest in algae as a possible source of fuel has soared in recent years because of associated advantages that include, but not limited to, (1) removing CO2 from the atmosphere (2) non competition with agricultural crops and (3) potential for greater gallon per acre biofuel production than currently used crops.
Current processes for the production of biofuel from algae biomass and other microorganisms primarily involves the conversion of triglycerides within algal biomass to either fatty acid methyl esters by trans-esterification or to hydrocarbon-based fuels by various catalytic high-temperature processes which convert the algal oils to hydrocarbon-based fuels. Most of the focus has been on the triglycerides present within the lumens of the cells and the phospholipids that constitute the membrane lipids. However, one of the issues with current processes is the removal of algae out of the water, and the water out of the algae.